Film review: Pacific Rim

posted at 9:31 am on July 14, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Twelve years after a crevasse opened in the eastern Pacific and monsters began to plague the Earth, humanity is on the ropes. Giant mechanized systems called Jaegers had given an edge to the united forces against the invaders, but a series of failures caused governments to give up on the two-person Machsuits and their heroism. The former commander of the unit has scrapped together one last attempt to beat the Kaiju as a new phase of the invasion threatens to wipe out all other human life on Earth. Can this rag-tag collection of heroes save the day?

If that synopsis doesn’t make the nature of Pacific Rim clear, then let me be blunt. It’s an overblown, noisy Saturday morning cartoon with only limited originality and plenty of confusion. When I left the theater, I immediately thought of the cheesy animated series Gigantor, which I watched as a kid, and I was unsurprised to discover later that director Guillermo del Toro used it as an inspiration. As an overblown, noisy Saturday morning cartoon, it offers a little bit of fun, but anyone over the age of 12 will not only guess most of what will take place, they may even predict the dialogue. That turns out to be a feature, as the noise from the sound effects tend to obscure some of the dialogue, but no one says anything too interesting or unpredictable anyway.

The characters and the situations come right out of comic-book and/or anime stock, giving the actors little to do but represent the old, familiar tropes, and at times that seems deliberate. The two scientists providing comic relief are reminiscent of C3PO and R2D2, if R2D2 could talk, and one character actually floats the Han Solo line, “Don’t get cocky, kid.” A nonsense interpersonal conflict between two pilots comes right out of Top Gun; I was surprised not to hear “You can be my wingman anytime!” when the subplot plodded to its inevitable conclusion. The commander, who gets the improbable name of Stacker Pentecost (what?), gives a speech that sounds like the outtakes from Bill Pullman’s speech near the end of Independence Day. And so on, and so on.

It’s not the Sharknado of cinema, but it’s not even a decent Godzilla movie. It makes the Matthew Broderick version of that franchise look like Macbeth. The effects are good, but the action so cartoonish that it’s impossible to care.

On the 5-point Hot Air scale, I give this a 2:

5 – Full price ticket

4 – Matinee only

3 – Wait for Blu-Ray/DVD/PPV rental or purchase

2 – Watch it when it hits Netflix/cable

1 – Avoid at all costs

There’s no reason to spend extra cash to watch this, but it’s not so awful as to require total avoidance. Pacific Rim is rated PG-13 for a brief bout of objectionable language and an avalanche of CGI violence, but it’s nothing too graphic. Pre-teens and young teens might like this as a popcorn flick (and it’s too intense for anyone younger), but adults will have better ways to spend their money.

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When I left the theater, I immediately thought of the cheesy animated series Gigantor, which I watched as a kid, and I was unsurprised to discover later that director Guillermo del Toro used it as an inspiration.

Dag nabbit, Ed! Now that song ‘Gi-gaaaaan-TOR’ is gonna pop into my head all day.

The problem I always have with giant robot movies is that the technology that makes them possible would almost always be more effective if incorporated into more conventional platforms.
Who needs giant robots if you can plant a bunker busting bomb on the forehead of the monster?

The problem I always have with giant robot movies is that the technology that makes them possible would almost always be more effective if incorporated into more conventional platforms.
Count to 10 on July 14, 2013 at 10:13 AM

You’re going to bring reason and logic to a comic book movie? What audience do you think these movies are aimed at?

You’re going to bring reason and logic to a comic book movie? What audience do you think these movies are aimed at?

tommyboy on July 14, 2013 at 10:19 AM

You know, I’ve always had a concern that the foot brakes used on Fred Flintstones’ car wouldn’t be very effective in the rain. And that car was a brilliant design where the more passengers it had, the more power it had.

You’re going to bring reason and logic to a comic book movie? What audience do you think these movies are aimed at?

tommyboy on July 14, 2013 at 10:19 AM

A good fantasy or science fiction story makes a limited number of fantastic/counterfactual claims, and then works out the logic from there to limit contradictions. If you are going to have giant robots, there should be some reason why tanks and aircraft won’t work better.

A good fantasy or science fiction story makes a limited number of fantastic/counterfactual claims, and then works out the logic from there to limit contradictions. If you are going to have giant robots, there should be some reason why tanks and aircraft won’t work better.
Count to 10 on July 14, 2013 at 10:26 AM

And sharknado should have done a better job explaining how those sharks kept from getting too dizzy to function.

Seriously, we would like to know if there is any PC angle to the movie.

faraway on July 14, 2013 at 10:24 AM

In that sense, it’s mostly harmless. There is one line about global warming as an explanation of why the monsters like our planet/dimension/whatevs, but it’s as intelligible as most of the rest of the film.

I heard a review on K-LOVE radio and they said it was pretty good, reminiscent of Godzilla and gave it 3.5/5, IIRC. It wasn’t enough to convince me to go see it, I’m not much into sci fi. I did see Monsters University last week, though. Pretty good flick!

@Ladysmith CulchaVulcha: My younger brother and I used to fight every Saturday over whether we were going to watch Gigantor (which he loved) or Frankenstein Junior (my favorite). I’ll never get that stupid theme song out of my head. Never.

I saw “Pacific Rim.” Good review, Ed. It’s directed by Guillermo del Toro, a world-renowned director. I’m not a particular fan of his. Del Toro’s most admired work, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” is considered an art film by many, perhaps because the heroes of the story are all passionate Communists (fighting the Fascists in Spain). I don’t find communists in general appealing, Spanish or otherwise, and I didn’t particularly care for the movie.

One thing del Toro can do, though, is create amazingly imaginative monsters, and I thought that was true in “Pacific Rim.” The monsters were by far the best part of the film, and considering that monster fights went on for 2/3 the running time, that might have been enough for many.

The human characters, though, were flat and boring, the story was thin, and there was no attempt at realism. The best way to view it, I think, is an elaborate and expensive homage to the Japanese Godzilla and Mothra movies.

One laughable moment: the story takes place a LONG time in the future, when complex holographic displays are common and giant robots act as defense weapons. Obama, though, appears at one moment on one of the screens as if he’s still president.

Movies are supposed to be entertainment, fun, an escape. Not everything has to be Serious Issues with Serious Actors saying Serious Dialog. In fact that’s a big complaint about Man of Steel, its too serious (that and its origin again).

And please never compare this to the Mathew Broderick “Godzilla” movie ever again, that movie is so far removed from the spirit of Godzilla it’s as if the film came from an alternate dimension where boring adults dressed in business suits checked off a list of giant monster destroying city movie tropes while crafting that piece of dreck.

@Ladysmith CulchaVulcha: My younger brother and I used to fight every Saturday over whether we were going to watch Gigantor (which he loved) or Frankenstein Junior (my favorite). I’ll never get that stupid theme song out of my head. Never.

Meryl Yourish on July 14, 2013 at 10:46 AM

Sorry, Meryl but…Frankenstein Jr.??? Yeech!

P.S.: Ladysmith as in Ladysmith, VA? I’m in Richmond.

Meryl Yourish on July 14, 2013 at 10:47 AM

Nah. As in the S. African a capella group ‘Ladysmith Black Mambazo’. Cheers!

The first Kaiju attack is in the summer of 2013. The second attack occurs later in the fall of 2013. The montage showing Obama as President comes from that timeframe – since Obama is the President.

The only part of the film that is even remotely political is when the Jaeger commander is dealing with political figures Who are cutting his fundingm ending the program.

Interestingly, they want to build gigantic, fortified coastal walls to defend against the Kaiju instead of building more Jaegers. Until a Kaiju smashes through a wall in Australia as if it wasn’t even there.

I suppose one could make an argument this was an attempt at metaphor for immigration – if one were so retentive to not simply enjoy a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters.

I am curious as to why Ed even bothers reviewing films. Not that I EVER pay to any film critic’s opinion at all, I find myself completely disagreeing with almost every thing he ever says in his reviews. Not that is a problem, to each their own opinion and all that, but I couldn’t be on more than the polar opposite on this one. The movie is great from start to finish and there are only minor gripes with the film that ultimately become nitpicks and not critiques.

Reading Ed’s film reviews brings a saying to mind: “No country for old men.” I sometimes wonder why a person who feels completely jaded and cynical in regards to most films feels the need to confirm to us that he is in fact jaded and cynical.

One laughable moment: the story takes place a LONG time in the future, when complex holographic displays are common and giant robots act as defense weapons. Obama, though, appears at one moment on one of the screens as if he’s still president.

Burke on July 14, 2013 at 10:48 AM

That would be because that montage takes place between 2013 and 2016…which means President Obama is still…president.

I saw it. It’s like it was written by 14 year old boys who love ridiculous giant robots. And why do you need to fight an alien in some human-resembling robot anyway? Just blast it with a missile…right. It was pretty much like I expected. One cheesy blockbuster plot cliche after another. I like Sci-Fi special effects and they were good. So it was OK.

I was surprised that such a director would go right for the comic-booky characters saying the same old lines that we here in countless other movies instead of playing it more “serious” That said, I saw it with my 2 kids 11 and 9 and they absolutely loved it. And I have to admit that I had a huge grin on my face for most of it. It absolutely delivered what it had to.

I saw it. It’s like it was written by 14 year old boys who love ridiculous giant robots. And why do you need to fight an alien in some human-resembling robot anyway? Just blast it with a missile…right. It was pretty much like I expected. One cheesy blockbuster plot cliche after another. I like Sci-Fi special effects and they were good. So it was OK.

Norbitz on July 14, 2013 at 11:56 AM

They explained this in the film…they did use conventional weaponry on the kaiju and it took something like over a week of non-stop attacks from all of ordnance, including missiles and nukes. By the time they killed the first one it had killed millions and destroyed 3 cities. The film also demonstrates a kaiju easily surviving a nuke of sizable payload.

I don’t see movies in theaters any more…not worth it. Better at home. But this movie looks epic….wanna see a live version of Robotech/Macross too!. This movie is just the beginning. Hopefully there will be more movies of Mechs and giant robots. They should have used green screen tech to keep the production costs under $100 million. The movie already made $91 million world wide to date, and the movie would have already had made more than half it’s cost back. Of course foreign box will help make this movie make a profit, especially from Asian countries who love Mech movies.

Meh. Voltron was a pale shadow of Raideen which (plot & Cheese-wise) would give Pacific Rim a run for its money.

BTW: NOT a fanboy per se, BUT my older brother IS, so growing up, I had to watch it with him…lol

Just a suggestion Ed, if you wanna see how a remake could go wrong, watch the original “Oldboy” on Hulu or rent it…THEN go see the update via Spike Lee’s version and tell me on the scale which is better. I will keep my snobby nose out of it…

1. I’ll see this one on DVD, probably when it goes on sale at my local Kroger store ($9.99 regular price, specials are two-for-one same price). I’ll watch for Battleship the same way. Or buy both at my favorite “gently-used” outlet for $4 each.

2. The reason I’ll watch is for the effects, plus to see how many tactical and military SOP errors they make. Plus, it’s sort of fun (in a childish way) to watch large battles with lots of explosions. Stupid, but mindlessly entertaining.

3. Every “giant robot” genre item I’ve ever run across completely overlooks the fact that the same technology can be used to build conventional combat vehicles that are much more versatile, heavily armed and armored, and cheaper per item than the robots. I used to build tanks in the Battletech game that routinely killed every robot they came up against, even with the artificial limitations in the rules to give the robots an edge. And the AFVs were always cheaper than an equivalent ‘Mech. To get really nasty, look up the old Striker rules boxed set from the original Traveller. No robots, just lots of ways to build incredibly nasty AFVs that would work in the real world.

(For real fun, dig out the old Steve Jackson Ogre game, and play the defense with three Howitzers, the CP up in the corner with the Hows clustered around it, and nothing but GEVs for the rest of the Blue force. The Ogre never wins.)

4. For a real SFX movie showing what AFVs of the future could do, try adapting the Hammer’s Slammers stories by David Drake.

5. The Emmerich/Devlin Godzilla was not a “true” remake of Gojira(1954). It was a remake of the film that inspired Gojira, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), with some overtones of The Giant Behemoth (1959) and Gorgo (1961). BTW, all three films were the work of one director, Eugene Lourie’. (In Gorgo, the monster survives at the end because his six-year-old daughter didn’t want it to die like the ones in the first two.)

I saw it. It’s like it was written by 14 year old boys who love ridiculous giant robots. And why do you need to fight an alien in some human-resembling robot anyway? Just blast it with a missile…right. It was pretty much like I expected. One cheesy blockbuster plot cliche after another. I like Sci-Fi special effects and they were good. So it was OK.

See, that was the problem with the BTech construction rules. They couldn’t make ‘mech construction match a battlemech’s supposed narrative value without letting someone like me abuse it by fielding a vast carpet of Savannah Masters. As a ‘mech-on-‘mech game, it had no rivals. But toss in the combined arms aspect and the balance just goes to hell. FASA even did some of it on their own when they introduced the Clans and their Elementals. What they needed to do was make ‘mechs all but untouchable by conventional means. Warhammer 40K accomplishes this with the concept of void shields for their Titans.

Great Mech action. Complaining about the dialogue? WTF did you expect? Oscar material in a movie that stars giant monsters and giant robots?

If you do not see this in 3D don’t bother watching it at home. Then you may want to pay attention to dialogue.

The plot did throw a curves ball my way. *******Spoiler Alert***** The monsters develop offensive weapons after mental contact with one of our scientists. An EMP to be exact. I did not expect that. The fight scenes are good. Go watch it in Imax 3D.

I like to come here for the movie reviews but this is one I could of skipped. Pacific Rim is exactly what it sets out to be, a homage to the old Godzilla and giant mecha genres. It does that excellently. And the characters, while archetypical, are solid and enjoyable. I thought there was some real chemistry between the leads.

Actually I like the title Pacific Rim, It sounds cool,and tells you where the battle takes place. But I think making a $200 million dollar movie is a big gamble no matter what movie is make. It looks like this movie will make over 200 million world wide, it already has made almost 100 million in 3 days. Hopefully they will be able to explore the characters more if they make a sequel.

I’d love to see a sequel. Its probably going to make enough money to make it a worthwhile idea for Legendary.

RAB on July 15, 2013 at 3:02 AM

I’d like to see more movies like this movie but sadly it disappointed at the box office. Came in #3. I think overseas sales, particularly in Asia, will help the movie succeed. I saw it twice myself to show my support.

I’d like to see more movies like this movie but sadly it disappointed at the box office. Came in #3. I think overseas sales, particularly in Asia, will help the movie succeed. I saw it twice myself to show my support.

Yakko77 on July 15, 2013 at 6:31 AM

Same here. I’m going again tomorrow night with a friend.

When I first saw the budget for this movie I thought it was a bit too ambitious if they expected huge returns. Its a kaiju/mecha film aimed at fanboys. I hoped but didn’t expect support among mainstream audiences more interested in Adam Sandler poop jokes. But I’m glad they went for it anyway.